Saturday, December 11, 2010

Civility? Let me look that word up, it's been a while since I've seen it

Fresh from the Dallas Morning News, comes a refreshingly positive story that involves Laredo's own Senator Judith Zaffirini. It looks like some people did take Rodney King's plea of "Can't we all just get along".

You have to hand it to state Sen. John Carona, the fearless Dallas Republican. Not only does he take on tough causes, like raising the gasoline tax, but he also reaches across the aisle. This week, he reached so far across it that he actually hosted a fundraiser for Democratic Sen. Judith Zaffiriniof Laredo. That will drive the partisans in both parties nuts, but Austin could use more of this kind of respect. Or, we should say, a return to respect. In the 1990s, George W. Bushdidn't campaign against Democratic legislators he worked with as governor. And the late Democratic Lt. Gov. Bob Bullockoften supported Republicans he had worked with in leading the state Senate. We're glad to see Carona upholding that tradition of treating the opposing party as colleagues, not enemies.

This sure beats the last-minute negative campaigning we've seen leading up to today's runoff elections.